


Cold Comfort

by noiproksa



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Banter, Canon Compliant, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Huddling For Warmth, Hurt Castiel, Hurt Dean, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Platonic Cuddling, Sharing Body Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-02 18:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18816328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noiproksa/pseuds/noiproksa
Summary: Dean and Cas are trapped in a room with temperatures well below zero. When even sharing vessel heat doesn’t seem to help anymore, they need to do whatever it takes to keep each other alive.(Intended as gen, but can be read as Destiel pre-slash.)





	1. Chapter 1

“Why did Sam get to go on the road trip to Colorado to take care of the Ghoul while we’re stuck hunting some sort of ice monster?” Dean complained as he used his flashlight to check out the corner of the room, his gun at the ready.

The whole house was cold and he shivered, pulling his jacket closer—the ice monster had to be close by; this was definitely its hunting grounds.

“Because he cheated at Scissors, Paper, and Stone,” Cas retorted.

Dean rolled his eyes and looked over at the angel. “No, he didn’t. There simply is no ‘Divine Wrath’ in Rock, Paper, Scissors. It’s in the name, dude.”

They had tried to explain the rules to him earlier, but Cas still didn’t seem to understand the game and insisted, “Divine Wrath beats everything on Earth, including those three things.”

“Whatever.” Dean turned away to check out the next room. “Let’s just find it, smite it, and be on our way home.”

“Yes, let’s smite it, why don’t _we_ ,” Cas grumbled, trailing behind Dean.

“Wow. Someone’s grumpy they’re missing the bee documentary.”

“Me. That someone is me, Dean,” Cas stated emphatically.

“Yeah, I know.—I told you. I’m recording it.”

Even though he had been tempted to ‘accidentally’ forget about it since Cas would probably make Dean watch it with him, especially now that Sam would be gone for a couple of days. He hadn’t had the heart to go through with it, though, which meant he had a boring bee evening to look forward to.

Looking around the room, Dean found the door to the basement and used his flashlight to try and make out what was down there. All he could see was his breath freezing into ice crystals in front of him. It had to be even colder in the basement.

“Put your smitey pants on,” he instructed Cas in a low voice. “I think it’s down here.”

Cas looked down at himself. “I am always wearing these pants.”

Deciding to humor Cas, Dean whispered, “Sure, those work as well,” and made his way downstairs.

The stairs were creaking and with each step, the temperature seemed to drop more and more. But still, there was no monster in sight.

“Dean!” Cas called out and Dean walked over to him to take a look at the massive iron door he had found. Icicles were hanging from the doorknob and it took Dean a few tries to open the heavy door.

Once inside, Dean shone his flashlight around and could make out ice encrusted on the walls.

He turned around to Cas, intending to ask him if he could feel a supernatural presence, when he caught a glimpse of something flickering in and out of existence just outside the room. But before he could react, the door whooshed shut with a loud bang.

“A freaking _ghost_ , seriously?” Dean asked. Would have been nice to know that going in. “Guess now we know why we need our research geek.”

Sam probably would have figured out by now who the ghost had been, and told them where the bones were buried.

Cas narrowed his eyes at him. “What exactly was our plan anyway?”

“Our plan was to find whatever is freezing people to death and smite it good.” When Cas didn’t seem too impressed, he muttered, petulant, “It was a sound plan. We would’ve been home in time for your geekumentary.”

He looked around the room. The ghost was nowhere to be seen.

“New plan,” he decided. “We get out of here, find out whose bones we need to burn and burn ’em.—And never tell Sam about any of _this_.” He gestured around the room, trying to encompass the whole ‘walking into a trap’ situation. “He’ll have way too much fun lecturing us about the importance of research.”

He put his gun away, walked up to the door and tried the doorknob. Seeing as it had been difficult enough to open to begin with, he should not have been surprised that it wouldn’t budge, even when he threw his whole body against it. After a few tries, he turned around to Cas, took a few steps away from the door, and motioned for him to open it.

Cas held out his hand towards the door and his face fell into a concentrated frown, but the seconds ticked by and nothing happened.

This was not good. The temperature had to be well below zero down here and Dean really didn’t like the idea of being stuck in this freezing hellhole for much longer.

“How long can humans survive temperatures like these?” Cas asked when it became obvious that he wasn’t able to open the door, either.

“How about we don’t try to find out?” Dean asked, as he took another shot at opening the door, trying everything from using brute force to trying to shimmy it open, but the door stayed firmly shut.

“New, new plan,” Dean finally decided. He took out his cell phone and explained while scrolling through his contacts, “We do tell Sam. If he turns back right away, he might be here in a few hours.”

They would be able to survive for a few hours, even in temperatures like these… right?

Fumbling with his phone, his fingers freezing, Dean remembered that one of the victims had lost a foot to frostbite. The doctors, of course, had had no explanation, and the man had died a day later due to hypothermia, frozen solid even though he had been in a hospital room overnight.

“No service,” Dean realized when the call failed to connect.

“I don’t need any devices to contact _my_ brothers and sisters,” Cas pointed out.

Rubbing his hands together to keep the circulation flowing, Dean glanced over at Cas. “This is not the time to brag.”

“No—I mean—I could try calling for them,” Cas explained. Oh.

“Well, your brothers are dicks who won’t pick up the phone, but I guess it’s worth a try,” Dean said, trying to go for abrasive so that Cas wouldn’t see that in reality, Dean was starting to freak out.

At this point, _anything_ would be worth a try if it got him somewhere warm.

Dean was pacing back and forth while they were waiting for an angel who probably wouldn’t show up anyway. This was why Dean hated having to rely on others. But they were running out of ideas fast and so they had no choice but to wait. And wait some more.

When Dean’s shivering got worse, Cas said, “Here. Let me,” and laid a hand on his shoulder. Instantly, warmth flooded through him and Dean leaned instinctively closer. The warmth felt incredible and Dean closed his eyes, sighing in relief when the shivering stopped.

As soon as Cas let go of him, however, he could feel the cold starting to seep in again.

How much time had passed, anyway? It felt like they’d been in here for ages.

When it became clear that Dean had been right and Cas’ brothers and sisters definitely wouldn’t ‘pick up the phone,’ Dean sank down to the floor, his back against the door, and put the flashlight down in front of him because holding it meant his fingers were slowly turning into icicles. He hugged himself in an attempt to keep warm, putting his hands under his armpits.

“Sam will know that something is not right if he tries to call and can’t reach us,” Cas said as he sat down next to him and patted Dean’s arm, using his grace once more to warm Dean up. When Dean looked up to thank him, he thought he saw Cas shivering slightly himself.

“By that time, it’ll take him a day to drive back,” Dean pointed out. He left the ‘I’ll be dead by then’ unsaid.

Cas didn’t have anything to say to that and so they fell into silence. It had been a stupid idea to take on two cases simultaneously. They clearly worked best as a team of three.

Dean was startled out of his thoughts when Cas shrugged out of his trench coat and shoved it unceremoniously at him.

“Seriously?” Dean asked, not making a move to take the proffered coat. “I’m not the chick in this scenario. If anything, _I’m_ the one who offers his jacket.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “I know that you are a very manly specimen of the human race.” He huffed in exasperation. “Now take the additional layer of clothing. It is of no use to me. I’m an angel; the cold doesn’t affect me.”

Could have fooled Dean. Cas’ lips had turned blue and now that he paid attention to it, Cas was definitely shivering ever so slightly, too. Apparently, fallen angels were ‘affected,’ all right.

“Put your coat back on. I can hear your teeth chattering from here,” Dean called him out on his bullshit.

Cas tilted his head to the side. “Is that an indication of my vessel’s temperature dropping?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. After a beat of silence, he added, “Sub-zero temperatures shouldn’t affect my vessel.”

“That’s probably because you keep wasting your grace on me,” Dean pointed out.

The next moment, Cas touched Dean’s knee to send another wave of warmth through him.

“That wasn’t an invitation to waste some more,” Dean grumbled, even though he was secretly grateful.

“That was a reminder that it is not a ‘waste’ of grace.”

At least, he put his coat on again when Dean refused to take it. But after a while, Cas reached over once more, using two fingers to softly press against his forehead. This time, it was more like a lukewarm feeling that traveled through Dean’s body. Cas’ fingers themselves were even icy where they were touching his forehead.

Dean swatted Cas’ hand away. He clearly didn’t have enough grace to spare.

“Gotta keep thinking about ways to get out of here,” Dean reminded him because his mind started to feel a bit foggy. “Can’t fall asleep.”

Cas had clearly started drooping as well; he didn’t even protest that he didn’t sleep.

“We should share vessel heat,” Cas suggested instead.

That was an awesome idea! “That’s a stupid idea,” Dean said while wiggling closer to Cas nevertheless. “No way are we gonna survive a whole day, doesn’t matter if we share vessel heat or not.”

Ignoring Dean’s words, Cas put his arm around him and pulled him closer. There was a slight tingly feeling where Cas was touching Dean’s upper arm, but hardly any warmth was flooding Dean’s vessel.

“Stop it!” he said. “Save the grace for yourself.”

They lapsed into silence. Sam would so make fun of him for dying because he had been too lazy to do some basic research. Not to mention that Cas would probably be the first angel ever to die of hypothermia.

“I have a plan,” Cas’ gravelly voice brought him up short. When Dean pressed against him to let him know he was listening, he continued, “It might not work. As you know, I can’t fly anymore. But maybe I can send _you_ away.”

That woke Dean up a bit. Maybe they wouldn’t die in this deathtrap after all. “Yes, let’s do that! You zap me in front of the door and I’ll open it from the outside!”

Cas’ eyes flitted away from his and he looked around shiftily.

“What?” Dean asked warily.

“I might not be able to do it at all, much less send you to a specific location,” Cas explained. “As a matter of fact, you should brace yourself for a rough landing.”

It took a while for Dean’s brain to decipher that.

“No specific location… like—different state?”

Cas wouldn’t meet his eye.

“Different _country_?!” Dean asked. Bulls-eye. “Then this plan sucks,” Dean decided. “I won’t be able to get you out of here in time if I have to travel back from _hundreds of miles away_. That’s not even a _bad_ plan—that’s no plan at all!”

“Don’t be difficult. This solution makes perfect sense. This way, at least _one_ of us gets out of here alive,” Cas said, his jaw set.

“Yeah, no. We’re not doing that.” That was the end of the discussion as far as Dean was concerned.

Apparently, Cas didn’t agree. He let go of Dean’s shoulder, and Dean immediately felt the cold take hold of him. He tried to lean against Cas’ side again, but Cas seemed to have other plans.

“I’m sorry, Dean, but you don’t get a say in the matter when it’s your life that’s on the line.”

Realizing what Cas was about to do, Dean tried to crawl away from him so that Cas couldn’t reach him.

“I swear, Cas, you zap me out of here and I’ll…” He had no idea what he could threaten Cas with, but he didn’t have to come up with anything because at that moment, Cas’ fingers were touching Dean’s forehead and the next second—he was still sitting right where he had been, Cas’ fingers still pressed against his forehead.

He glared at Cas as best he could under the circumstances, but when Cas lowered his arm, he scooted closer again anyway. “I’ll be mad at you for that little stunt later,” he decided as he pulled Cas firmly against him in order to try and chase away the cold.

They would die here like they did everything else—together. No way would he ever leave Cas to die all by himself.

That’s when Dean realized the solution. Cas had been on to something—only he had had it backwards.

Fumbling around, Dean took out his knife and quickly cut his hand, using his blood to start drawing on the door.

“Dean! What are you doing?” Cas asked and immediately took hold of Dean’s arm, but before he could heal him, Dean ripped his arm away from Cas’ grip.

“You can’t zap me away. But _I_ can zap _you_ away,” Dean explained and continued drawing the angel banishing sigil.

“Don’t be ridiculous! You don’t know where I will end up. I won’t be able to get to you in time.”

“Well, at least one of us will get out of here, huh?” Dean said just as he finished the sigil.

“Dean—don’t!” Cas warned, trying to pull Dean away from the door.

Somehow, Dean found the strength to resist, and he looked straight into Cas’ eyes. “You know what, Cas?” he slurred, trying to get the words out through his chattering teeth. “You don’t get a say when your life’s on the line.”

“You are mad because I tried to fly you away without your permission. But Dean…”

Dean had no more energy left to argue. He wasn’t good at saying goodbye anyway, and the longer he waited, the weaker Cas would get and the more unpleasant, maybe even dangerous being zapped away would be for him.

“See you in Heaven,” was all he was able to lull before he put a hand on the sigil.

Cas’ “No!” echoed through the room and the next second, Dean had to shield his eyes against the bright light. When he opened his eyes again, he was all alone. No more angel to share vessel heat with.

The flashlight flickered and then the batteries died, leaving Dean in complete darkness.

Exhausted, he closed his eyes again. It wasn’t even that cold anymore. In the back of his mind, he realized that that wasn’t a good thing.

He wondered where Cas had ended up and whether he was okay…


	2. Chapter 2

Warmth, coziness, comfort, contentment…

Was he in Heaven?

“Many species of animals depend on bees for their survival because…”

Wait—bees?

“Cas?”

Opening his eyes, Dean realized that he was lying on the couch in the Dean Cave in what appeared to be some sort of blanket fort made up of soft pillows and blankets and something Dean thought might have been his fleece shirt and another one that looked like Sam’s. Cas was sitting next to him, all cuddled up in the blankets himself.

“Am I dead?” Dean asked, sitting up.

Something didn’t quite add up. Cas had been banished. There was no way Dean could have survived. Still—Dean wouldn’t have guessed that his Heaven would include bee documentaries of all things.

“No, I got to you in time,” Cas replied. “I hope you don’t mind. I built us a nest to keep us warm. I healed you as best I could, but my grace isn’t quite replenished enough yet.”

Healed him… because of the hypothermia… “The ghost!” It was probably out there, looking for another victim.

Dean tried to stumble to his feet, but he quickly realized that he wasn’t strong enough and sunk back down into the ‘nest.’ It really was quite comfortable.

“Don’t worry,” Cas said. “I went with our original plan.” When Dean furrowed his brows—his brain still seemed to be a bit sluggish—Cas clarified, “I ‘smote it good.’”

Something still didn’t make sense, though.

“How did you get back?”

“Your sigil was very weak. It only sent me about half a mile away.”

Huh. Turned out sheer luck was worth more than research after all.

Dean watched some bees buzzing around on TV, not really paying attention to what was being said. Cas had turned the volume down low anyway. When he felt Cas’ eyes on him, Dean looked up and saw Cas squinting at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You used an angel sigil against me.—Again.”

“Oh no, you don’t get to be mad at _me._ You started it. You would’ve sent me away, too, if you still had the mojo for that.”

Apparently, Cas wasn’t able to refute Dean’s logic. He tried to stare Dean down as usual, but Dean stared right back, raising his eyebrows.

“So…” Cas said after a while. “Even?”

“Even,” Dean agreed.

He burrowed deeper into the pillows because he still couldn’t quite shake the memory of almost freezing to death.

Cas, the idiot, reached over in an attempt to heal him some more, but the angel was wrapped up in the blankets himself and had said that his grace hadn’t had enough time to replenish yet, so Dean swatted his hand away.

“No using angel powers!” he instructed. “We can do this the human way.”

He leaned against Cas with his shoulder and then just stayed there. It was really rather comfortable inside this nest, especially now that they were sharing ‘vessel heat’ in addition to being cuddled up in the fluffy pillows.

“Look, Dean!” Cas nudged him and pointed at the TV, where some bees were huddling close together. “They cluster into a ball to conserve warmth during winter, too.”

“Yeah, awesome,” Dean said and even though he had used a sarcastic tone of voice (which probably went right over Cas’ head anyway), he couldn’t suppress a grin. Seeing Cas geek out over bees made watching an otherwise boring documentary with him totally worth it.

Still, being in a warm and safe place caught up to him and he felt his eyes droop. As he drifted back to sleep to the droning of the bees, it vaguely occurred to him that this right here—‘movie night’ with Cas in a warm, angel-made nest, was probably as close to his personal Heaven as he could come.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s been a while since I wrote a cuddling for warmth fic, which is one of my favorite tropes (This fic right here if anyone’s interested: **[Of Cuddle Circles& Vessel Temperature](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16036709)**). But I think this fic was different enough and I had a lot of fun with the trope (again).
> 
> ~~I’m slowly running out of things to post – only one more chapter to go for both ‘Unthought Known’ and ‘Four’s a Crowd.’~~ I'm all out of Dean&Cas fics to post for the moment. Any other tropes you’d like to see me tackle? I’m always open for prompts as long as they focus on Cas & Dean (& Sam).
> 
> And as always, comments and kudos make my day. ❤


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